Tale of an halved high school teacher
Text: Franco De Toma, Liceo Scientifico e Classica
Photo credit: Pixabay
Frank and his crew haven't met, haven't talked and haven't shared a real space for two weeks now. Wasted time. Wasted for them. Wasted for Frank.
Not only as information, notions, lessons and homework have a totally different meaning now...if they have any at all...but also because of the human relationship we have lost. This especially as far as the 5th and the 1st years are concerned.
So much does Frank miss laughing in his 5th C! The Swimmer's sharp jokes, which he tells to the enjoyment of his classmates with a complicit smile; so much he misses the Personal Trainer's participation, almost always too late or too early, but unique for this same very reason; and how about the Sweet Feminist's glances? He misses them a lot, when she looks at him pretending to be annoyed, being accomplice to their peculiar show instead, which they both love and which makes the other students relax. And what can I say about the Philosopher? A well mannered young man, one would say, careful talker and films expert...
Back to school in September...
These are just a few examples to describe all the shades of his students' personalities, but Frank won't be able to unfold them completely. As Frank believes that, for the sake of the whole community, they won't be able to go back to school till September. How could they keep social distancing? How could they sanitize the premises? How could they teach wearing masks? Easy...they can't...
But in September his 5th year students will already belong to another world, the one of university, so far from High School, so far as Primary School is from Secondary School...
How will Frank know then, what Penny from his 5th year wants to be? Will he become a posh manager or a stubborn engineer always strict with his staff? Or maybe a doctor, maybe a smart and ambitious surgeon? Frank will not know...
He won't know about Sweet Nat, who looks fragile, but who is very determined about her goals in life instead; he won't know about his Secretary/Helper, his precious carer, very patient and willing to help. She once told him she wanted to help babies in coming to the world...a wonderful choice, maybe a bit old-fashioned, but certainly poetic and important, in a country where fewer and fewer babies are born every year, and where we are growing older surrounded by even older people...
One chapter of students' lives is closing
Frank will unfortunately have lost his students' final moments of this chapter of their lives forever. Forever, an expression which can bring either incredible happiness or great melancholy. It's not just about the oldest though, it's also about the little ones, who obviously wouldn't like to be called "little ones". But Frank likes calling them in this way, as they are often sweet and naive, almost ridiculous at times.
As Frank won't be able to call all his students on the phone, to make sure they are fine and working, he will write his tales of their school life here. So that every mum and dad can sneak into their kids' world, where Giulio, Alice, Manfredi...are not exactly what their parents think they are...
These pages are dedicated to the world living among desks, teachers' desks and interactive whiteboards, so that in ten years' time, Frank's students will still have a memory of today's not-time, not-school and not-meeting.
To be continued...